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PII mag release

1K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  blr 
#1 ·
i've just ran into a little problem with my 65k rnd count PII,which has been nothing but good to me in the past 5 yrs...i shoot alot of compettion and last time i shot was in Nov 07,and the problem started during a state match..here's what goes..during a slide lock reload,when the mag seats and the slide is going to go forward..it won't..then when i try to drop the mag,the slide stop release is totally locked,and when i tryed to drop the mag,the button took about 400lbs of pressure to release it...it done this several times on 8 different mags...played around with it last night..when seating the loaded mag,it seats,but when you try to take it out the mag button is going back to the 400lb release pressure...does this with 6 different mags and i must have done 300 reloads last night trying to figure out whats going on and it locked up at least 50 times..any ideas ??
 
#2 ·
I had a similar problem that I discovered at a single stack match. In that case it was like your are reporting - the slide would not go forward and I could not get the mag out. In the end the RO had to use both hands and hell of a lot of effort while I worked the release and kept the muzzle down range. My situation was related to over insertion of the mag. Assuming you are having issues with new mags or mags that you know to be 100% then something has happened to the mag catch itself to alter the geometry. If the mags can be eliminated, I'd start by removing the mag release and closely looking at the catch for any areas of damage or severe wear.

Good luck
 
#3 ·
It sounds like the spring is binding, though I'm not sure how this would happen unless it broke. The first thing I would do is remove the part and look it over? Does the spring compress normally outside of the gun? If the problem is the mag release itself, it's an inexpensive part (about $20) that Les Baer has in stock.You might want to check out the extended release with the button , it is helpful for rapid reloads during competitions.
 
#4 ·
well its been over a year since i posted ..in 2008 still had the mystery noslidefoward/when at slide lock during a reload..even replaced mags with the wilson 500 series.did good for a couple of matches ,then boom started all over again at the last match of the year[nov]..this yr i just picked up Glock and shot it till sept ,then started shooting the Baer again..just finished up 3 state matches in 3 weeks in a row and still had 7 james out of 40 stages..just bought 5 new mags and a C&S slide lock lever this past week,and at the state match had 3 jams,while not as bad,but still...dosent seem to do it during a practice session..did 35 one shot reload one shot without any trouble...
 
#5 · (Edited)
I had the exact same problem once with a Wilson 10-round mag in my .45 ACP P-II a few years back. It took an incredible amount of force to remove it.

I was shooting an informal action pistol match with several "lightly used" Wilson 10-rounders I hadn't tested yet (the match was the test). After the malfunction I took the mag out of service and the malfunction never returned. Wilson even replaced the mag free of charge.

I've never had the malfunction since and I used Mec-Gar, Metalform, Wilson, CMC, and Tripp mags. I don't shoot that particular gun much these days but at the time of the malf, the round count was over 50K, mostly 200gr SWC reloads. The gun always ran well and has run fine since.

I just figured it was a bad mag or that I over-inserted it under the stress of the match.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Ummm....where's the pics of that Baer??? :rock:

After 65k, I'd take the button out and disassble and clean it. Maybe a piece of brass caught in there, or broken spring, or powder residue. Or you could just replace it for a few bucks with a new Baer button in a couple of minutes.

An after thought: my Baers keep the mag a bit "higher" in the gun. This made inserting mags, particularly the WC 47s, difficult. You could feel the extra drag in droping them too. I cured this issue with another button that had the catch lowered about 0.050". Just a thought. YMMV.
 
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